Vote preserved county’s legacy, future

By Tom Lappas, Citizen Editor

11/10/11

The occasion of Henrico’s 400th birthday this year has been the cause for celebration throughout the county in a variety of ways during the past 10 months. But in 1961, it appeared possible that the county may have celebrated its last meaningful birthday at the age of 350.

Henrico found itself on life support that year, its lengthy and rich history threatened by the possibility of a merger with the City of Richmond. The impetus for such action: Henrico’s success and rapid growth – made clear to city officials by the 1960 Census, which showed the city’s population had fallen by more than 10,000 residents since 1950, while Henrico’s had grown by nearly 60,000 during the same period.

The idea was spurred in large part by the Greater Richmond Committee, an umbrella organization created by three Richmond civic and business associations whose members felt the city would become stronger by enveloping its neighbor, author and historian Nelson Wikstrom wrote in his 2003 book County Manager Government in Henrico, Virginia: Implementation, Evolution and Evaluation.

Ultimately, the push for a merger came to a public vote in each jurisdiction Dec. 12, 1961. Voters in Richmond largely favored the plan, with nearly 70 percent voting in support of it. But Henrico voters, perhaps encouraged by the public opposition of the chairman and vice chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors to the plan, shot it down by a vote of 61 percent to 39 percent.

Their decision prompted the city to file an annexation lawsuit seeking the forceful acquisition of nearly all of Henrico; led to a three-year legal debate on the matter; and ultimately helped to preserve the county in the form citizens know it today, ranking it fourth on the Henrico Citizen’s list of the most significant moments in Henrico’s 400-year-history.

A desirable neighbor
By the late 1950s, Henrico County had built itself into a strong and progressively urbanized community. The county maintained its own secondary road system, which allowed it to carefully plan for sensible growth in a systematic way. Interstate 64 soon would cut a path from one end of the county through the other, providing quick access to and from the city and beyond. Henrico was becoming the location of choice for many who worked, shopped and played in the
city, and Richmond officials realized it.

City officials felt they needed Henrico and its growing tax base in order to survive, according to a Sept. 25, 1961 Associated Press article, since there was little room for expansion left in Richmond’s 40 square miles. Conversely, Henrico’s 232 square miles offered endless potential. Merging the two would provide the tax revenue necessary to sustain Richmond, city officials believed.

The Greater Richmond Committee and Richmond Regional Planning District Commission commissioned a study by the Public Administration Service in 1959 to analyze the benefits of a merger. Perhaps predictably, the report concluded that the idea would be mutually beneficial to both localities and their residents. Henrico’s Board of Supervisors, as Wikstrom wrote, commissioned its own study the following year, which concluded the county was serving its citizens
efficiently and didn’t need the city’s help.

Still, the county agreed to study its options with the city, so both jurisdictions established three-member committees of businessmen to analyze options jointly. The six men met frequently in early 1961, but Henrico citizens began to question the process, which seemed too secretive to some, Wikstom wrote. Soon, an editorial in the Henrico
Herald newspaper blasted the idea of a merger.

“The more we think about the present ‘negotiations’ of the Richmond and Henrico commissions to study the feasibility of consolidation, the more convinced we become that Henrico has been ‘sold down the river,’” it read, according to Wikstrom’s book.

By August 1961, the six-member committee had formalized a proposal: the localities would merge as of Jan. 1, 1963 into a five-borough jurisdiction – Brookland, Fairfield, Richmond, Three Chopt and Tuckahoe – encompassing the entirety of both city and county. The proposal called for a 66-month interim period during which an 11-member council would govern the new jurisdiction (to be known as Richmond) – one member from each of the county districts, four from the old city of Richmond and three at-large members from the new jurisdiction. Afterwards, the plan proposed that the council consist of nine members elected on an at-large basis.

The proposal would have made the new-look Richmond the fifth-largest city in land area at the time, increasing it to 232 square miles and bumping up its population from about 220,000 to about 337,000.

Opposition grows
But the proposal seemed flawed to some observers and Henrico citizens, including several prominent ones who championed loudly against it. For example, it proposed gradually raising Henrico’s real estate tax rate – which was slated to decrease by 10 cents per $100 of assessed value in July 1961 – to the higher city rate during a 14-
year period.

Though the county’s Board of Supervisors officially endorsed the plan, its chairman, Simeon Burnette of the Fairfield District, and vice chairman, B. Earl Dunn of the Brookland District, soon thereafter voiced their opposition to it publicly. As Wikstrom described in his book, both men felt the proposal would unfairly raise taxes on county residents without providing them services that would be on par with the higher costs.

When county voters went to the polls Dec. 12, 1961, they did so with the words of Richmond City Manager Horace Edwards perhaps ringing in their ears. Edwards had promised that if the vote didn’t pass, the city would sue to annex Henrico instead. Following the overwhelming rejection of the plan in Henrico, the Richmond City Council gave his
statement legs by filing a lawsuit seeking 142 square miles of the county, which contained all but 8,000 of Henrico’s residents at the time.

“In pursuit of such a large area,” Wikstrom wrote, “Richmond was effectively seeking to acquire the entire county. In reality, Henrico’s remaining area of approximately 90 square miles would have hardly contained a nearly sufficient population and resources to support and fund a county government able to provide public education and other essential services.”

The annexation suit, in essence, was a direct threat to Henrico’s existence.

During the annexation case, heard by the Henrico Circuit Court, Henrico County Manager Ed Beck testified that the county didn’t need any help providing for its citizens and that in fact, annexation would result in less efficient provision of services for those residents. The court delivered its verdict in April 1964, awarding the city just 17 square miles (containing 45,000 residents) of Henrico, mostly in the Near West End and Northside – regions that included Willow Lawn, the Azalea Mall and the Reynolds Metals headquarters, Wikstrom wrote.

Following some wrangling by both sides about what the land was worth, and the slight adjustment of the actual boundaries of the land to be annexed, the court ordered Richmond to pay Henrico $55 million for its acquisition.

More than three years after the debate about a merger began – and nearly a year after the court’s decision was delivered – the Richmond City Council considered the offer, weighed the fee, and then voted in early 1965 to decline the offer, which it felt was too steep. Several years of consideration, debate and legal contests ultimately had
resulted in nothing.

In the 46 years since that decision, the city has seen its population drop by more than 15,000 residents. In the same period of time, Henrico’s population has grown by more than 180,000.

The Henricopolis Soil & Water Conservation District will sponsor a tree seedling giveaway on April 2 at Dorey Park Shelter 1 from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and on April 3 at Hermitage High School parking lot from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Bare-root tree seedlings are available to Henrico County residents free of charge for the spring planting season.

The following seedling species will be available: apple, kousa dogwood, red maple, river birch, red osier dogwood, loblolly pine, sycamore, bald cypress, white dogwood and redbud. Quantities are limited and trees are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Each participant is allowed up to 10 trees total, not to include more than five of the same species. > Read more.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) recently launched an online directory of permitted bingo games played in Virginia. Listed by locality, more than 400 regular games are available across the state. The directory will be updated monthly and can be found on VDACS’ website at http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/gaming/index.shtml.

“Many Virginia charities, including volunteer rescue squads, booster clubs and programs to feed the homeless, use proceeds from charitable gaming as a tool to support their missions, said Michael Menefee, program manager for VDACS’ Office of Charitable and Regulatory Programs. > Read more.

Richmonders Jim Morgan and Dan Stackhouse were married at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Lakeside Mar. 7 month after winning the Say I Do! With OutRVA wedding contest in February. The contest was open to LGBT couples in recognition of Virginia’s marriage equality law, which took effect last fall. The wedding included a package valued at $25,000.

Morgan and Stackhouse, who became engaged last fall on the day marriage equality became the law in Virginia, have been together for 16 years. They were selected from among 40 couples who registered for the contest. The winners were announced at the Say I Do! Dessert Soiree at the Renaissance in Richmond in February. > Read more.

Two events this weekend benefit man’s best friend – a rabies clinic, sponsored by the Glendale Ruritan Club, and an American Red Cross Canine First Aid & CPR workshop at Alpha Dog Club. The fifth annual Shelby Rocks “Cancer is a Drag” Womanless Pageant will benefit the American Cancer Society and a spaghetti luncheon on Sunday will benefit the Eastern Henrico Ruritan Club. Twin Hickory Library will also host a used book sale this weekend with proceeds benefiting The Friends of the Twin Hickory Library. For all our top picks this weekend, click here! > Read more.

In a spot that could be easily overlooked is a surprising, and delicious, Japanese restaurant. In a tiny nook in the shops at the corner of Ridgefield Parkway and Pump Road sits a welcoming, warm and comfortable Asian restaurant called Ichiban, which means “the best.”

The restaurant, tucked between a couple others in the Gleneagles Shopping Center, was so quiet and dark that it was difficult to tell if it was open at 6:30 p.m. on a Monday. When I opened the door, I smiled when I looked inside. > Read more.

Cinderella is the latest from Disney’s new moviemaking battle plan: producing live-action adaptations of all their older classics. Which is a plan that’s had questionable results in the past.

Alice in Wonderland bloated with more Tim Burton goth-pop than the inside of a Hot Topic. Maleficent was a step in the right direction, but the movie couldn’t decide if Maleficent should be a hero or a villain (even if she should obviously be a villain) and muddled itself into mediocrity.

Cinderella is much better. Primarily, because it’s just Cinderella. No radical rebooting. No Tim Burton dreck. It’s the 1950 Disney masterpiece, transposed into live action and left almost entirely untouched. > Read more.

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